The BJP failed to do well in Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. This was the second consecutive LS election in which the party performed below expectations in Gujarat.
The BJP failed to do well in Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. This was the second consecutive LS election in which the party performed below expectations in Gujarat. As the party recovers from the stunning reverses, it readies to come up with an explanation as to what went wrong. The exercise is worrying the state BJP leaders, as they will soon be summoned by the party's central leadership.
Indications are that the Gujarat BJP has made up its mind to put the blame on the delimitation exercise. This will help the party, sources said, kill two birds with one stone. On one hand, it will somewhat reduce the embarrassment of conceding some sure shot seats to the rivals and, at the same time, keep the party cadre in good humour too. Insiders said the party think tank believes that any harsh action against key leaders of the party would send wrong signals.
According to sources, the party has already started the exercise of analysing how delimitation factor worked against the BJP candidates in many constituencies. The party was aware of the possible damage even before the elections and had claimed to have made extensive arrangement.
Sources said the party is most shocked at the reverses suffered in Patan, Dahod, Banaskantha, Anand and Rajkot. Here the gamble to field fresh faces did not work, but many believe the candidates' tainted past may have queered the pitch for them.
"The party has started analysing the constituencies where the delimitation factor hit it the hardest," said a BJP leader. "There is not one single reason for the reverses. Like, for example, the reason of defeat in Rajkot may be quite different from that in other constituencies," he said, adding that, "But, by and large, we believe that delimitation exercise upset the party calculations in Patan, Banaskantha and Anand constituencies."
Another issue that has raised a debate within the party is how to fix the responsibility of the defeat. For example, in 2004, the party had won 14 seats, a loss of six seats from 1999. At that time, Rajendrasinh Rana was the state BJP president. He was subsequently sidelined, as Modi grew in stature and became the most formidable leader in Gujarat. Besides, Modi had got a free hand in candidates' selection this time. If party sources are to be believed, except for Harin Pathak and Rajendrasinh Rana, all the party candidates in Gujarat were handpicked by Modi.
Now, any action against Modi will give a boost to the anti-Modi camp in the party. That is why the party leadership wants to divert the issue by putting the blame for the poor show squarely on the delimitation exercise.
It is important to recall that the three Lok Sabha seats - Kapadvanj, Dhandhuka and Ahmedabad - underwent major changes after the delimitation which also affected over 40 assembly seats in the state. An assembly segment-wise analysis of the results shows the BJP trailed in almost 25 of those seats. A leader of the anti-Modi camp believes that, at least half of the 15 seats BJP won in Gujarat was because of fringe parties eating into votes of Congress and a rift in the latter's ranks. "The party has actually won only 9 seats on its own. On six, it was helped by other factors," said a disappointed BJP leader.
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